


Anaesthesia Daydreams

by GreetingsFromThePunderworld



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: ' mental sanctuary ', Cigarettes, Daydreams, Drugs, Goddamit its awkward, Got that OA aesthetic, Graphic depictions of things that are not 'violence', It's something, Loosely based off of songs by The Front Bottoms, M/M, Nightmares, Twin Size Mattress, Wine, its weird, skeleton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-20 21:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9516386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreetingsFromThePunderworld/pseuds/GreetingsFromThePunderworld
Summary: Tyler then quickly recognised this particular Angel from his anaesthesia daydreams at that place. "Hey, I know you." Tyler mumbled."I would hope so." The Angel chuckled, prying the bottle of wine from Tyler's hand to take a swig of his own.





	1. Anesthesia Daydreams

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings, 
> 
> This is written for @glittering.soull on Instagram, their art work is so amazing and beautiful, I strongly advise that you go check it out! 
> 
> The artist herself is extremely sweet and about as lovely as her art!
> 
> I said I'd write a book, I plan on following through.
> 
> -GFTPw

_I_ _run my fingers over the raised, ragged indents in the soft plastic. I can recognize it as a flower, what type I am unsure of at the moment. I try to take notice of where I am, everything is fuzzy and frayed at the edges. A small enclosed space, four walls, three of which are made of the same light blue plastic the flower is carved into. The fourth wall is tiled, a cream colored white. This does not make much sense, it registers that I am very alone here, wherever here actually is._

  
_There is a toilet behind me. A stall, I am in a bathroom stall. Feeling elated at this revelation I whip back around to the door, I lilt forward fumbling for the latch. It won't open. My heart drops, saturated with disappointment. My heart, it's going to thud right out of my rib cage! I glance back to the flower, it is no longer engrained into the wall-_

 

 A deafening rattle startles Tyler from his sleeping stupor. He groggily looks up from where his head had been resting on the steering wheel. A train hurtled passed the car, it promptly wakes him. He could feel the vibrations traveling through the car and up his spine. Tyler's eyes glaze over at the mesmeric string of speeding train cars.

  
The last car flew by, clattering loudly. As if the pressure changed, things become clear again. Tyler stared blankly at the space ahead of him, it contrasted greatly with the lack of train. A patchy clearing of grass, dew drops glittered, clinging on tightly to the fine wiry dead grass. Winter had ended while Tyler had been in there, it had certainly felt long enough.

  
Wait- Tyler's eyes widened in shock. No, had he really? He had fallen asleep in the front seat of the car. He had never once before in his life fallen asleep in the front seat, he was always too tall to sleep comfortably in the small cars he had driven in before. It was such a strange notion to him.

  
Tyler saw a half burnt out roll of paper resting in the cup holder. He must have gotten high off of the nicotine. That was the only explanation for why he could have fallen asleep here. Tyler was satisfied with this conclusion.

  
Tyler rubbed his hands together, they were dry. This was when he took notice of how cold the air really was. The chilly air from outside had managed to seep into the car while he slept. He reached for the cigarette and perched it between his fingers. With his other hand, he searched his coat pockets for a lighter, or matches. They were all empty, aside from the car keys. Tyler was growing increasingly antsy, he needed this to calm down and warm up.

  
Ah! There it was, in the other cup holder. He snatched up the aqua colored lighter with the intent to light the cigarette again, immediately. He held off until he could at least get the car door open.

  
Tyler gripped the door handle. The door didn't budge. His veins flashed cold with panic. The car door wouldn't open. He was trapped in here and he was going to freeze to death in a stupid rental car.

  
The train whistle sounded clearly in the distance from farther down the tracks. It cooed, 'Calm down, kid. Get a grip.'

  
Tyler did just that, listening to the train reassure him, he let out a shaky breath. And then a shaky laugh, it turned into a nervous burble. The door had only been locked, how silly. Tyler silently thanked the train.

  
He pulled out the keys and held his breath while pressing the unlock button. The locks clicked open to his relief, he let out a sigh.

  
Tyler threw the car door open and stumbled out. He slammed the door shut behind him a little too hard, he flinched at the clamorous bang. Tyler lit the lighter and brought it up to the end of the cigarette. He pocketed the lighter and brought the cigarette to his lips. He leaned against the side of the car and let his thoughts fog over, letting the smoke do its job.

  
There was a forest a couple hundred feet away from him. It was still early in the morning, the sky was painted behind the dusty tree line. The sky was a fading purple-pink that developed into the vast, misty grey expanse that was above him.

  
Where was he again? Oh yeah. Only a couple miles from home. Tyler began debating whether to even go back home or not. His mom would probably just send him straight back to that place. Tyler turned his lips upward in disgust, it had taken a while to work out a way to escape.

  
The place had doubled as a drug rehab center and a 'mental sanctuary' as the staff worded it. Tyler didn't buy it though, it was just a place rich people sent their kids when they got 'out of hand' it was just an excuse for their 'rambunctious behavior.' He had never been bad in that way.

  
Tyler, in comparison, was not like the rest of these kids, the staff didn't necessarily know how to deal with someone in _actual_ need of a therapist.

  
The cigarette had burnt out. Tyler dropped it on the ground and snuffed it out with his shoe. He ran a hand through his hair- oh yeah, they had cut his hair at that place for whatever regulations deemed necessary. It had started to grow out again, but it was still too short for his liking. Tyler covered his head with the hood of his grey jacket.

  
Ha, the door wouldn't fool him again. He clicked the unlock button on the keys, the car chirped. He opened the door on his first try this time. Tyler slid into the driver's seat, the car smelled like vanilla air freshener. A faded yellow pine tree air freshener had been wrapped around the rear-view mirror.

  
Tyler caught a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror. He wished he hadn't. Underneath his eyes where bruised a light purple. His lips were chapped and pale. His cheeks sunken in from ingesting the wrong prescription of medicine too many times.

  
They had fed him a continuous stream of anti-depressants day after day and when that failed to work they had usually just drugged him up with anesthetics. That had caused some awful daydreams and even worse nightmares.

  
Tyler ripped his eyes away from the sickening view to start the car. the engine turned over once, the car sputtered, it stalled once again before beginning to run smoothly.

  
Tyler pulled back off of the gravel and out onto the empty roadway. He drove. He drove over long bare expanses of the road. Just him and the trees and the rhythmic tapping of his fingers against the steering wheel.

  
Tyler eventually passed a familiar gas station, he was sure he needed to turn to the right to get home. After a few more miles Tyler wasn't sure anymore. He careened to a stop when the traffic light quickly blinked to red. A car honked noisily from behind him.

  
"Sorry," Tyler whispered. Tyler had stopped at a crossroads intersection, to the right was a public library, straight ahead there was a suburban neighborhood and to the left was the neighborhood that had been in the middle of reconstruction when the real estate agency running it all had gone bankrupt several years ago. The skeleton neighborhood sat on a hill surrounded by an ocean of tall pine trees.

  
In a split-second decision, Tyler flipped on his blinker to turn left. Unconventionally, Tyler was in the middle lane, meant for you to drive straight ahead. Tyler had little interest in going to the suburban neighborhood.

  
He could only hope that what he was looking for was still where he was going. The traffic light flashed green, Tyler recklessly pulled across three lanes of traffic, he was followed by a symphony of car horns shouting discrepancies after him.

  
Tyler leaned forward when he stepped on the gas to climb up the steep hill.

  
As he thought, it was empty. Tyler smiled. He chose the house that was just a skeleton, like him, except Tyler remembered his skin today. Tyler pulled into the driveway of the houses' wooden frame.

  
He shut off the ignition and slipped out of the car. He slinked carefully up to the front door.

  
Tyler couldn't help the grin from spreading across his face. Just as he remembered, a lotus carved scrappily into the front door. There were no longer wood shavings scattered on the porch, unlike the day they carved it into the door.

  
Tyler remembered going to the pond as a kid with _him_. Tyler remembered the lily pads and the white lotus flowers that bloomed from them. He remembered the sweet tangy scent they gave off when you brought them up to your nose after you plucked them from their watery home. He remembered catching painted lady turtles with _him_ to play with for the afternoon before setting them free back into the small pond. He remembered how they would go swimming in that pond, reeds tickling their legs and the mud gushing between their toes.

  
He remembered his dream from earlier that day. Tyler's smile quickly faded. 

  
He brushed it off and knocked on the dull door. He could hear the sound resonate empty within the hollow shell. Tyler huffed out in disappointment and gripped the doorknob. "Please. Please. Please be open at least." Tyler mouthed, pleading silently.

  
To his luck the door opened easily, his smile returned.

  
Sunlight filtered in through the uncovered windows, intermingling with the shadows, keeping them at bay up against the walls.

  
Tyler knew it was dumb to think that he still stayed here. How long had Tyler been in that place anyway? A month? A year? Five years? Tyler didn't know or care, all he knew was that Tyler was the only reason _he_ stayed so long in the first place.

  
Tyler remembered begging _him_ to stay, tears in both their eyes, _he_ had eventually given in to Tyler's pleas. Tyler remembered the long nights the two of them had spent, drinking, talking and smoking. On the warm nights, they would climb up onto the roof and watch the sunset, the stars and moon, and then the sunrise. On the cold nights, they would sit next to each other pressed together, side by side under a blanket, watching a fire flicker and smolder into ash and coals.

  
Tyler had wanted to stay there his whole life and never graduate, but _he_ had bigger plans for his life.

  
The homey nostalgia hit Tyler hard, square in the chest. He could feel it dig its red hot-steel fingers right into his heart. He needed something to take the edge off or else it was going to be overwhelming like that morning.

  
Tyler walked back to his car, his eyes lingered on the flower carved into the front door. His heart squeezed tighter, throat dry, he wiped at the tears prickling in his eyes. He remembered the bright spark in those coffee colored eyes when _he_ talked about moving to that big city _he_ was probably in now.

  
Tyler started the car and backed out of the driveway, he would come back, how could he not.

  
Tyler drove around the small town for the better half of the hour. Usually, driving helped drown out the feelings clawing and scratching for attention- to be noticed. It hadn't seemed to work this time. He drove, tears blurring the lights together until it manifested into glowing Angels. Tyler wasted time and gas until the sky was bruised with deep purples and blues and oranges.

  
When it got darker the Angels grew brighter, they began to hurt Tyler's eyes. They were much too bright now.

  
A whiny beep signaled Tyler that he needed gas. "Shit," Tyler muttered, forgetting about the too-bright Angels. He would have to use the rest of the money he had taken such precarious care of in that place on some stupid gas.

  
Tyler drove to that familiar gas station and pulled up to a grimy fuel pump. He filled the car tank full, now he needed to go to the store to pay.

  
Tyler wrung his hands together tightly. He counted the money, making sure it was enough, and then some. After a heated internal debate, Tyler preferred not having the cops after him.

  
Tyler made his way into the cramped gas station, filled from the floor to the ceiling with junk food and soda.

  
Tyler perked up when he saw a familiar face from high school at the counter. Happy, was always a face he was happy to see.

  
"Ty? When'd you get out of the looney bin?" Happy said gruffly at the notice of a familiar customer.

  
"I didn't," Tyler replied in a monotone voice. Happy chuckled rubbing his scruffy beard assuming the comment to be a simple joke.

  
"So what'll it be?" Happy asked, clearly looking to sell some of his less legal stock items. Happy leaned against the counter and raised a bushy brow, inquisitively.

  
"Just the uh, usual," Tyler said awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "And that." Tyler pointed to a cheap bottle of wine. He handed Happy the wad of cash for the gas, weed, and wine.

  
Happy slid a bag across the counter and set the glass bottle down with a clank. "Pleasure doing business with ya as always Mr. Joseph," Tyler grunted in response and gathered the purchased items and spun around to leave quickly.

  
Tyler walked quickly back to his car eager to lock up those pesky scratchy- clawey feelings. He tossed the bag onto the passenger seat of the car and popped the cap off the wine, that alone told you how dirt cheap it really was.

  
Tyler took a heady swig of the wine and started the car back up again. The lengthy drive back to the wooden skeleton house was a blur, between the falling tears and the buzz of the alcohol tainting Tyler's system.

  
Tyler clutched the neck of the bottle when he pulled into the driveway of the same house as earlier. He had spent a lot of his high school career in this house with the company of  _him_.

  
All Tyler wanted to do right now was get stoned and drunk enough to regret it in the morning and not remember then. This is the kind of self-destructive behavior that had gotten Tyler sent to that place in the beginning.

  
Tyler had managed to get fairly intoxicated in the short amount of time he had been in possession of the alcohol. He double checked his pocket for the lighter that he had no recollection of how it had even come to be in his possession. He snatched up the bag from the passenger seat and worked his way out of the car. He shut the door with his foot and began up the stairs to the porch.

  
Tyler took another big gulp of wine, it swished around in the bottom of the bottle. Tyler knocked on the door, directly where the lotus was carved. He waited, not wanting to be rude.

  
To Tyler's utter surprise the door opened on its own. That may explain the other car parked in the yard that hadn't been there before.

  
"Tyler?" The voice seemed stricken with fear and laced with worry. Tyler couldn't really make out who it was, they were backlit by a fire burning brightly from behind them. On top of that, his eyes did not feel like being cooperative at the moment.

  
The figure had a glowing halo of blue hair set around their head, Tyler decided it was very pretty and that it was very much worth touching. He reached up to curl his fingers into the light blue hair. "Uh, that's me." Tyler slurred squinting against the glowing halo. Tyler had also decided he liked this angel much more than the too-bright ones from in town.

  
Tyler then quickly recognized this particular Angel from his anesthesia daydreams at that place. "Hey, I know you," Tyler mumbled.

  
"I would hope so." The Angel chuckled, prying the bottle of wine from Tyler's hand to take a swig of his own.


	2. Rusty Nails

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for lack of a better chapter title.
> 
> I'm realizing all my ff gravitate towards the same themes. But that's cool, right? Ya know drugs, mental problems the whole shebang!
> 
>  
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy, I'm quite proud of this and the plot developments I have planned.  
> 

The Angel opened the door wider and took a small step to the side so Tyler could enter the threshold of the abandoned house.

  
Tyler's eyes grew wide when the flickering fire no longer illuminated _him_ from the back. "Josh?" Tyler asked, surprised,

  
Josh nodded. "Yep. That'd be me." He said mimicking Tylers earlier response, he paused. "But we can't always be sure, can we?" Josh tilted the bottle back and forth on his hand, sending the liquid sloshing up the sides.

  
Tyler thought for a moment focusing on the swishing wine. "I guess not." He took a few steps towards the fire, immediately it both warmed him and warned him.

  
Tyler's fingers tingled at the tender caress of the warmth of the fire, it reached out to hold his hand. The burning wood popped and crackled, murmuring something that Tyler struggled to hear. 'If Josh might not always be Josh, then Tyler might not be Tyler. How can you be sure you are you? Who even are you?' It whispered curiously.

  
Josh shut the front door gently behind him. "What's that?" Josh asked pointing to the plastic bag in Tyler's hand.

  
Tyler tore his attention away from the steadily breathing fire, still awaiting his answer. Who even are you? He asked himself but held up the bag to examine it instead of finding an answer to the question. "It's a plastic bag." He stated.

  
Josh hummed. "Of course. Better question, what's in the bag?" He ended placidly.

  
When Tyler didn't answer, Josh exhaled and held out his hand, palm facing upward. Tyler handed him the recently purchased drugs.

  
Josh scowled and looked at Tyler as if to say 'really?' Tyler averted his gaze back to the fire. Josh tossed the bag into the blaze. It fueled the fire and intensified its curiosity.

  
Tyler felt a sense of loss, he had been planning on using that. He watched the thin plastic of the bag quickly begin to melt, the potent aroma of marijuana quickly began filling the room. The fire hissed loudly at the added ammunition, more urgently it began to ask, 'who are you?'

  
Repeatedly, before Tyler could answer Josh had a tight grip on his wrist. "Come on." He implored, extending his other hand which still held the half-drunken glass bottle.

  
Josh led him down a gloomy, unlit hallway. They turned sharply to the left, before them a flight of wooden stairs. They began the ascent, with every step taken the scent of pine and drywall became stronger.

  
At the top of the stairs a low light filtered through the glass-paned windows, it allowed millions of particles to be seen dancing in the light. Tyler felt an itch in his throat from the dust, he swallowed hoping that would quell it. No such luck. He tried for a short dry cough instead.

  
Josh twisted around to look at Tyler and thrust the bottle into his hand. Tyler swallowed a large mouthful, too large. A small cough turned into a hacking fit.

  
"Are you okay?" Josh asked gingerly placing a hand on Tyler's shoulder when the coughing died down.

  
"Must be the butane." Tyler ran a sleeve across his mouth. Josh's grip on his shoulder tightened. "What? Are you okay?" He asked almost angry.

  
"Kidding," Tyler said blandly. When he looked out the window he continued on more drearily. "It hasn't rained in here."

  
Unphased at the quick subject change Josh replied, "It hasn't. There's a roof." He sent a disconcerted glance up to the thin sheets of plywood held up by wooden beams.

  
"Heavy rain is the only thing that could wash those cobwebs away," Tyler said discouraged, also looking up at the high ceiling covered with the dusty lace spun by spiders.

  
The second story of this house was like a spacious attic. The whole floor had no interior walls, they hadn't been built yet. There were just rough outlines of thin wooden pillars making up the doorways and hallways. Everything up here was the same yellow-brown color- aside from the lone mattress pushed up against the far wall. It was bare, no sheets, it was just laying there on its metal frame.

  
"Oh. I guess we're out of luck then." Josh turned away from Tyler and trudged over to the mattress.

  
"But the spiders aren't," Tyler added cheerily. "Out of luck that is." Josh sat down on the creamy mattress, the aged frame creaked loudly.

  
Tyler scanned the floor, he wondered if it was still there, where he left it before he was sent to that place. All he saw was dust and wood shavings, he turned around. His heart swelled. In an arching step, Tyler stood looming over a plastic Folger's coffee bucket filled to the brim with rusted nails. He smiled eagerly to see if it was still there.

  
Josh watched him from his perch on the bed, resting the bottle on his knee. He sighed and tilted his head. He wouldn't find it, Josh had burned the stupid thing.

  
Tyler kneeled down and began rifling through the nails. Rust came off of the nails, light and powdery. Josh cautioned him, "careful, don't cut yourself."

  
"I won't. I don't want a tetanus shot." Tyler sighed, suddenly dejected again. He pursed his lips and gripped the bucket. Tyler abruptly flipped it upside down sending nails flying across the floor, skittering and clanging against one another.

  
Josh rubbed at his face with both hands, the bottle was going to be empty real soon if Tyler kept this up. "So Ty, are you going home anytime soon?" Josh asked.

  
Tyler had collected the nails into a pile on the floor against the wall. He lifted one up and examined it. "Naw, I'm good. I'm already home." Tyler beamed up to Josh, he placed the nail flat side down on the floor. Tyler picked up another one, he placed it somewhere that seemed to be in no correlation with the first nail. He continued this, placing nails in no definite pattern.

  
Josh watched in silence, he had grown used to the strange behavioral habits of Tyler. Whenever they came here during high school, he would place the nails into patterns that formed images. Usually, flowers but also sometimes skeletons.

  
"Ever notice that water is clear, but not all water is clear?" Tyler mumbled. When he received only a grunt from Josh he clarified. "Like flood water is never clear. But water in general is."

  
Josh set the bottle on the floor to look under the bed. "Yeah, weird." He said in a strained voice as he reached under the bed for the blankets he kept there. He pulled one out and wrapped it around himself. Josh gathered the wine back up, holding it to his chest.

  
"But hey don't worry, I'd help you swim if we ever got in a flood." Tyler was once again brought back to the memories of the pond. Tyler placed another nail down. "Remember the pond? We used to race all the time."

  
"You were always faster than me." Josh smiled, his crows feet manifested when the thin skin crinkled at the corners of his eyes.

  
Tyler was quiet again, he focused on placing the nails in a mentally mapped out pattern. Josh had finished the bottle. He let his arm go slack, the bottle tumbled to the ground noisily. It thudded on the ground and rolled over to Tyler's foot.

  
Tyler took his attention off the placement of nails, he picked up the bottle. "Hey, Josh?"

  
Josh looked up to face Tyler. "Hmm?"

  
Tyler had been reminded of the fires question, he wanted to hear Josh's answer first. "Who are you?"

  
Josh shut his eyes and pressed the heel of his hand to his eyes. "I don't really know yet. What about you?"

 

"Well, it'd be easier to tell you who I'm not. I'm not you. See easy." Tyler answered having set the bottle on the floor and gone back to placing the nails down in their pattern.

  
"Yes, I do see. But I haven't even been feeling like myself lately, so how do you know for sure that your not me?" Josh had really turned the tables on him now.

  
"I don't know." Tyler babbled on in a hushed tone. "It's easy to not feel like yourself when you don't know who you are." He cut off the conversation again abruptly. Another period of silence followed.

 

"What if you are just a voice in the vessel of your head. This body is just a vessel for your brain. Your brain can hear you, but just as the thoughts in their heads. Or what if we, the thoughts, can't even be heard, assuming that you even have thoughts. What a strange notion, wouldn't you agree?" Tyler was running the pad of his finger over the pointed edge of a nail.

  
Josh was caught off guard. "Uh... Sure... ?" Tyler was unpredictable with his words, it was insane, the detached things he sputtered out and spewed. They really did scare Josh.

  
"Did you know that there's this thing called the death rattle?" Tyler began yet another completely off topic conversation.

  
Tyler only had a few more nails left, Josh had decided to let the end product be unveiled at once. No peeking. Just a surprise. "Mind sharing?" Josh asked suddenly curious, at something other than the existential angst.

 

Tyler puckered his lips. "Well you see, it's this really eerie sound- really cool too." Tyler paused as if reminiscing where ever he could have heard it from. "When someone is at the edge of necrosis, death, fluids accumulate in their throat, like saliva; and in their chest and it's like some sick vibration when they inhale or exhale. You know, when they're trying to breathe."

  
Josh gripped the blanket around his shoulders, aghast and confounded. He choked on his expectancy. "Tyler, it's been a long day. You should get some sleep."

  
"Okay." Tyler agreed casually.

  
Josh stood up letting the blanket pool at his feet. He kneeled down to pull out the other bedding materials he had stored under there. He pulled out a thin pillow and a linty cotton blanket. "Do you want the bed?"

  
Tyler shook his head. He stood up to admire his Handy work. He prided his self on this one. It wasn't huge like some had been, but it was intricate. A lotus flower, it was as if he could smell it overpowering the dusty cobwebs, the sawdust, and wood.

  
Josh went to stand beside him. "Wow, it's pretty. This one really complex." He said honestly before handing off the pillow and the warmer of the two blankets.

  
"Thanks," Tyler said and made his way over to the corner, he tossed the pillow onto the ground sending a cloud of sawdust into the air. He settled down on the pillow with the blanket on the wooden floor. "Night," Tyler whispered. Josh didn't answer.

 

Before falling asleep, Tyler could've sworn he heard someone shuffling around, but he was used to that. He screwed his shut tight.

 

 

  
_Again I'm surrounded by these plastic walls. I look up, the bright fluorescent lights are blinding. Like an Angel's halo._

_  
Right- back to the issue at hand. I rattle the metal latch to the door. At my light touch, it rusts over and crumbles in a red dust to the floor. I toss open the door but hesitate momentarily. I throw a glance back at the wall, the lotus is still there carved into the wall. Good._

_  
It's disappointing, really, just a generic unclean bathroom. A mirror adorned with stains and scratches sends my reflection right back towards me._

_  
Something is off in the distorted mirror. Taking a step closer, my hands grip tightly onto the counter. Squeezing until it hurts._

_  
I lean in close to a reflection, not sure if it's me. I tilt my head. The skeleton on the mirror tilts his head too, the mirror opposite of my actions._

_  
I hold my breath. Is this me? Leaning in I press the hand to the glass, it's cold. I'm too busy focusing on the skeleton to notice somebody enter the bathroom behind me._

_  
But in the mirror I do happen to see another skeleton walking behind me, it doesn't seem to have taken notice of me. I spin around, I face a man. Features that don't stand out, an average Joe._

_  
Joe is shaking, muttering and pacing. "Hello?" My voice wavers. Joe has tears in his eyes. "Why are you sad?" I ask. It's very unusual for a man to walk into a bathroom crying._

_  
"Tell them I'm sorry." Joe whispers._

_  
"Who-" I'm cut off by Joe, not so average. Average Joes do not pull out knives from their coat pockets._

_  
Joe is crying steadily, the tears stream down his face and cheeks. "I don't want you to see." He chokes out._

_  
Average Joe? He doesn't seem to have the intent of malice. I nod and turn around._

_  
It doesn't help, behind my skeleton reflection, I see the skeleton manifestation of Joe- festering with despair._

_  
The skeleton held the knife up to his throat, he slides it easily across the bones. The grating scratch against bone is the only thing audible in the bathroom. It reverberates off the walls. The skeleton bones clatter loudly to the ground. They sound like nails._

_  
Once again I spin back around. I crumple to my knees, they had folded in on themselves._

_  
Dark and thick, the red liquid poison pools around Joe's body. He is still breathing. It's bubbly and rasping. Almost like a rattle._

 

_Death, in his youth, shakes its rattle, amused at this loss to the world, but pleased with the addition to his own._

_  
I crawl over to Joe, blood plasters my knees. It's still warm. His eyes gaze up to the ceiling. It must be bright._

_  
I study his unseeing eyes, like an ocean that doesn't move, a light that illuminates nothing, flowers that don't bloom. All forever locked in the chrysalis of limbo, all in a timeless town that are Joe's eyes._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will either be one or two other chapters, depending on how long I can stretch out what I have planned.


	3. The Pond

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.instagram.com/glittering.soull/
> 
> Actually click on that^^^ right now If you haven't already.
> 
> This is the last chapter too... :/

  
'What the hell is he doing here?' Josh thought rampantly. 'They obviously wouldn't have let him out, especially with the state he's in.'

  
Josh stood looming over Tyler's creation, the nail lotus. He wasn't any better now then he was before graduation. If anything he was worse.

  
Josh swept away these thoughts like dust, he decided instead he should get some food. Tyler looked scarcely thin, who knew when the last time he ate was.

  
The sun still lay in its tomb under the skyline, waiting for daybreak. The dim light was peaceful, Josh's low beams softly illuminated the road ahead.

 

_______

 

Tyler gasps out a raspy breath just waking from his dream. He sits up stock straight on the floor, both his back and neck ache in protest. Joe's eyes ghost around in his memory. Shuddering away the dream Tyler collects the blankets and stands with it wrapped tightly around his shoulders.

  
The room is damp, the blankets are damp and Tyler's eyes are damp. He uses the blanket to dry them, as he lets the blanket fall back down to his side; he notices the damp room is empty, No Josh.

  
Tyler wouldn't hold it against himself if the Angel was just a dream, he usually had a lot of strange dreams.

  
Tyler wistfully swayed towards the window, in the driveway his grey rental, beyond that a few more houses. Everything is enveloped in the seemingly endless sea of pine trees powdered with blues and grays.

  
The road begins to shift the longer Tyler stares, the pavement is swaying and rippling like a creek. It churns and bubbles, rushing around in circles the flow increasing with intensity. Whitecaps form in the waves of the asphalt.

  
Tyler watches intently, a shadow crosses from underneath the surface. 'A whale?' He thinks curiously.

  
The shadow dissapears back into the depths. This water is to deep to see through, it's not clear like a glass of water or the shallows of the pond.

  
From the edge of his eye, Tyler catches a Honda appear from over the crest of the hill, the road reverts back to normal.

  
Giddy excitement bubbles up in Tyler's chest, Josh! So it wasn't a dream, maybe his noggin was good for something after all.

  
Tyler flew down the stairs on his toes, blanket flowing behind his shoulders like a mildew cape.

  
Tyler heard the car engine cut off- the door closing. He paused and waits for the knock on the door.

  
Only it doesn't come. Tyler scoffs at the sudden entry, but overlooks it when he sees the greasy to-go bag from a fast food resturaunt.

  
"I got breakfast." Josh held out a brown bag out to Tyler, he shut the front door behind him.

  
Tyler graciously took the bag. His stomach growled impatiently. "Thanks. Next time knock, it's rude." Tyler said, shuffling back towards the stairs.

  
Josh shrugged his shoulders and followed. The duo tromped up the stairs like they were kids again, bags crinkling with each scraping step.

  
They sit side by side on the bed, the room is enveloped in an ashen hue. Outside is overcast with spring clouds.

  
The lotus of nails sits untouched on the floor. Tyler unfolds the paper that binds a soft taco in on itself. Taking the first bite, Josh follows his lead.

  
The American style Mexican food is quickly eaten, Josh collects the trash to toss in the fire later.

  
"So you're not going to see your mom?" Josh asks.

  
"I don't think so." Tyler answers simply.

  
Josh kicks out a foot, at a dust bunny, his knee had prior been used as a chinrest. "Alright." Another lapse of silence.

  
"What do you want to do today?" Tyler shrugs.

  
Josh internally sighs and refrains from externally berating Tyler. "How about we go to the pond. There won't be any lotuses though. It's still too early in the spring."

  
Tyler clasps his hands together. "I don't know if it'll be worth it if there's not going to be any flowers."

  
"Sure, but we can't stay here all day can we?" Josh pushes forth motioning at the gloomy room. This house would get very drab very quickly, with only the hospice of spiders.

  
"Well we could, but it would be real boring." Tyler stands up once again completely discarding the blanket. "Thanks for the food."

  
Josh grunts and stands up beside him. "Of course. Let's go?" Not waiting for an answer, he had already begun the descent down the precariously built stairs.

  
Out the door and to Josh's car. Tyler slides into the passenger's seat. The air had a pleasant chilly bite to it when the car started the air conditioner sputtered out a huff of musky air.

  
Josh rolled the windows down, his car was old, the moldy smell was overpowering at times.

  
Tyler gazed, unfocused, out the window. The scenery rolled past too quickly to take in. Wind snaked in through the car's windows and viscously whipped at both of their faces. Neither minded the sharpness, it woke up their minds.

  
Both sat in silence until they reached a fork in the road. Josh turned onto the gravel path, the car loudly jostled and jerked as it slowly rolled over the cutting rocks.

  
The winding road was short, it lead to a larger clearing of gravel. They would have to walk on an obscure and overgrown trail through the woods to get to the pond.

  
Josh and Tyler left and locked the car, preparing for the short trek to the natural pool.

  
This place would be considered a park or a reservation, although no one kept up with it. Back when they had been kids people actively came here for a recreational game of frisbee or for an invigorating jog along one of the various paths. There had even been a shop where soda and snacks had been sold, it had held a restroom, metal tables and chairs to sit and eat at. Tyler distinctly remembered a cork board where the employee would pin up newspaper clippings or pictures of joyful park-goers.

  
After initially leaving the car, Tyler gazed wistfully at the boarded up brick structure that had once been stocked with plenty of goodies.

  
Josh had walked ahead, he turned around and cocked his head at Tyler. Tyler quickened his pace to catch up with him.

  
The brittleness of the gravel under their feet was jarring. It was greatly appreciated when they reached the soft dirt trail. After walking fifteen minutes they diverted off the path to the pond.

  
It was hidden in the trees and a wonder that no other wily children had ever found it before, aside from Josh and Tyler.

  
The trees went up to the waters edge, the bottom of the pond was surprisingly sandy and in fact did make for good swimming. The farther side of the pond was where the weeds and mud was.

  
Josh stood behind while Tyler went up to the waters edge. He stood still from shock when he did not see himself staring back up at him from the waters murky reflection. A grinning skeleton peered blankly back up at him.

  
Josh didn't mind Tyler, he noticed the lily pads just beginning to grow again along with the buds on the trees. Pine needles lay as a dry red carpet on the forest floor.

  
Josh looked down from the trees too Tyler whom had crouched down over the water. "What is it?" He asked knowing not to ask the blasé question of 'are you okay?'

  
Tyler edged away from the water. It frightfully reminded him of Joe's eyes from his dream, the stillness of the water matching the stillness of his eyes. It was like a photograph capturing the memory of the nightmare. Tyler offered a grunt and kept his distance from the water.

  
Josh was about to try asking him again when his phone buzzed in his pocket. 'A call? From who?'

  
Not bothering with checking the caller id Josh pressed the answer button and held it up to his ear. "Kelly?" He asked surprised at hearing the chirping voice call him first.

  
Tyler's ears perked up at his mothers name, Josh held up a finger, for him to stay quiet.

  
From the other end of the phone, "Josh honey, is he with you? Please tell me he's with you. I don't know where he is. He's been gone for days. Somehow he got out of the institute and..."

 

Josh cut her off. "Hey, slow down. Slow down." He repeated lowering his voice in an attempt to make sure Tyler wouldn't hear. "One second Kelly." Josh held the phone against his chest and addressed Tyler. "I'm going out to the path, to get a better signal. I'll be back in a minute." He lied.

  
Josh had began to walk away, leaving Tyler wide eyed and confused.

  
"Kelly? Yes, calm down. He's here with me... No, listen. Just give me some time to talk to him. He's in a... fragile emotional state." Josh paused listening to Kelly's nonsensical ranting. "Don't you dare say that to me. It is not my fault your son is- listen, I was not the one who sent him to a grade A shit-hole of an insane asylum!"

  
Tyler had followed stealthily behind, he had a right to know after all. What did they not want him to hear? Listening to the conversation Tyler kept his breathing in time with the wind.

  
Josh leaned into the light breeze wafting through the trees, not paying the slightest bit of attention to the words Kelly was spewing over the phone. "Yes, I told you. Of course, I did." Josh exhaled. "I was worried about him- he was my best friend and- and then when that happened he-" he was interrupted by Kelly yelling. "I'll call you again later," Josh said promptly and cut the call off.

  
Josh shoved his phone back into his pocket, he ran a shaky hand through his hair. He turned around, startled when he saw Tyler standing mouth agape in shock.

  
"What?" Tyler asked, brows knitting together in confusion.

  
"Tyler no- listen." Josh began.

  
"You. It was you, not my mom." Tyler's voice raised in realization and betrayal. "You were the one that sent me there. " He spat out.

  
"You gotta understand It was for your own good." Josh stepped forward. "You're sick Tyler. It's not the drugs or the wine, it's never been that... They just made it worse."

  
Tyler did not listen, he was tempted to go throw himself into the pond so he didn't have to listen to this infidelity.

  
Josh continued, "I mean I first noticed it in high school, you weren't like other kids. Not in a healthy way, so I told your mom. Please understand, I was only doing it to help. But then she didn't do anything. She just let your brain keep rotting, Tyler. Then the thing at the concessions stand here- oh man I shouldn't have brought you here." Josh's words ran together and trailed off quickly.

  
Tyler had trouble catching on to his words, especially with his own racing thoughts. What was he talking about? The concession building, here at the park? Tyler was still glaring at Josh.

  
"Wait- you don't even remember it do you?" Josh was unable to continue, Tyler had brushed past him.

  
Tyler ran ahead down the path, his feet caught at the gnarled tree roots, his feet slipping on the pine needles and sand. The fifteen minute walk turned into a five minute run.

  
Tyler broke from the embrace of the trees back onto the gravel. Panting, he stumbled to the store. Tyler did not question why the door was not locked, he graciously slammed it shut behind him. He slid down gasping in burning lungfuls of dry air.

  
Back in the woods Josh had called Kelly back. He had told her where they were, he needed to involve someone mildly capable. Josh quickly padded back to the parking lot, looking for Tyler.

  
When Tyler heard the approaching footsteps he slid the bolt shut on the door and peered through the plastic blinds. He spotted Josh whom had clearly figured out where he was. Tyler refused to come out of the building, the wicked traitor would just send him back to that place to be drugged up on anaesthesia again.

  
Josh banged on the door, Tyler ignored him spitefully and walked down the aisles of metal chairs. Thin slivers of sunlight filtered through the sheer blinds, dust particles danced in the suns spotlight.

  
Josh shouted indiscrepancies, Tyler ignored him and sneered. He approached the worn cork board. Fuzzy faces on pictures stared back leeringly at him. 'He lied!' They snickered, eyes sinking into black holes and skin peeling off to reveal white bones. Tyler tore them from the board and tossed them to the ground, seething.

  
The pictures had been pinned over a newspaper. It revealed only a portion of the full paper. The face on the picture looked sinisterly familiar- Joe? Tyler tore at the rest of the scrap photos and flyers.

  
He blinked rapidly trying to read through his hazy vision. The headline read, 'Young Teen Witnesses Violent Suicide In Park Restroom' next to average Joe was a black and white picture of himself.

  
Tyler phased in and out of his dream, that was not so much a dream as it was memories. He had stashed a different copy of this newspaper in the nail bucket back at the wood skeleton house. The blood rushed to his head, he was dizzy. Tyler staggered to the bathroom- maybe if he splashed some water in his face that would wake him up.

  
The bathroom door creaked open, the stalls were blue, the tiles stark white. Completely forgetting the original purpose of entering the bathroom Tyler was fixated on the lotus carved into the wall of the stall- this was the bathroom from his dream after all.

  
The middle stall, heart hammering in his rib cage he pushed the soft plastic door open. Too his complete relief, carved into the wall, a scrappy lotus.

  
In retrospect going to the bathroom was not the best idea Tyler could have had. When he left the stall he caught view of himself in the mirror. He looked even worse than he had in the car mirror the other day.

  
Tyler stepped forward peering at his gaunt skin. The harder he looked the thinner his skin got, it diffused away completely. His eyes rolled out of his head, yet he could still see. Now what stared back at Tyler was the nightmarish reflection of what he really was. Just a skeleton.

  
The bathroom slowly began to fill with a light mist- it condensed into a thick fog. A figure could be made out through the fog.

  
The figure manifested into another form of bones. This skeleton clutched a knife in his bony fingers. "Tell them you're sorry." The scratchy voice of the skeleton sounded through the fog.

  
Tyler scrambled back, bones clicking and grinding against each other. He had reared up against the bathroom counter and the skeleton was slowly approaching.

  
Tyler climbed up onto the counter and leaned into the mirror. He fell through onto the other side if the mirror- he was back in his own skin.

  
He heard sirens in the distance, Josh's muffled pleading for him to come out and worst of all the grinding of a knife against bones. He could feel his heart ricocheting in his chest, it would fall out just like his eyeballs.

  
Tyler scrambled up and scurried from the wretched room. He tried to fling open the store's door to evade Joe's haunting skeleton. Surely he could climb through the mirror too and follow him. But the door would not yield. It rattled on its hinges but refused to open.

  
The sirens blared impossibly loud, red and blue strobed and illunintated the room. A loud gruff voice yelled "Back away from the window. We're coming in."

  
Tyler slammed his shoulder in a last attempt to get away from the animated bones. At the same time his shoulder made contact with door the window next to him shattered. Glass rained down on the floor.

  
Tyler couldn't hear his mom shouting. He was only focused on the skeleton in the bathroom.

  
A man in a police uniform was crawling through the window. "Alright. I ain't gonna hurt ya. Just wanna help." He said, gesturing his hands as he inched forward.

  
"But the skeleton." Tylet cried motioning to the bathroom.

  
"The skeleton ain't gonna get ya. Alright?" Tyler nodded, the officer had a gun and all the skeleton had was a knife. "Now real slow we're gonna go outside and talk with your ma." The officer unbolted the door and lead Tyler out to his mom. Josh stood, arms crossed next to the hood if his car.

  
Tyler shot a look of disgust at him. His mom hurled herself forward and squeezed him in her arms. Tyler stood still in her arms.

  
"We're going to get you good help honey." She cried into his shoulder. The police officer escorted Tyler to his car like a zombie.

  
Tyler didn't notice that they shipped him off to another place before he was already settled in. He could only hope this place wasn't unbearable and that he would actually be prescribed with the right drugs and that he wouldn't be forced to dream in a haze if anaesthesia.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so mush for reading hope you all enjoyed, and that the ending wasn't garbage... Oops.
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/glittering.soull/  
> https://www.instagram.com/glittering.soull/  
> https://www.instagram.com/glittering.soull/  
> https://www.instagram.com/glittering.soull/  
> https://www.instagram.com/glittering.soull/  
> https://www.instagram.com/glittering.soull/  
> https://www.instagram.com/glittering.soull/
> 
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> In case you missed it https://www.instagram.com/glittering.soull/

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have much of an idea about how much I will be writing for this, but there will be more, I can promise you that.


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